Breathtakingly Beautiful. Wells Cathedral.

The Nave, Wells Cathedral.

Illustrations: ON THE LUCE

The Organ and Choir, Wells Cathedral.

Illustration: ON THE LUCE

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

The Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew, commonly known as Wells Cathedral, is an Anglican Cathedral in Wells, Somerset. The Cathedral, Dedicated to Saint Andrew the Apostle, is the Seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. It is the Mother Church of the Diocese and contains the Bishop's Throne (Cathedra).

It was built between 1175 and 1490, replacing an earlier Church built on the same site in 705 A.D. It is moderately-sized among the Mediaeval Cathedrals of England, between those of massive proportion, such as Lincoln Cathedral and York Minster, and the smaller Cathedrals in Oxford and Carlisle.

With its broad West Front and large Central Tower, it is the dominant feature of its small Cathedral City and a landmark in the Somerset countryside. Wells has been described as: "Unquestionably, one of the most beautiful", and as, "the most poetic", of English Cathedrals.

The West Front of Wells Cathedral.

Photo: 30 April 2014.

Source: Own work.

Permission: "Photo by DAVID ILIFF.

License: 

CC-BY-SA 3.0".

Author: Diliff.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Cathedral's Architecture presents a harmonious whole, which is entirely Gothic-Style, and mostly in The Early English-Style of The Late-12th- and Early-13th-Centuries. In this respect, Wells Cathedral differs from most other English Mediaeval Cathedrals, which have parts in the earlier Romanesque-Style, introduced to Britain by The Normans in the 11th-Century.

Work commenced in about 1175, at the East End, with the building of The Choir. The historian John Harvey considers it to be the first truly-Gothic structure in Europe, having broken from the last constraints of Romanesque. The stonework of its pointed Arcades and fluted Piers is enriched by the complexity of pronounced Mouldings and the vitality of its carved Capitals in a Foliate-Style known as "Stiff Leaf".

Its Exterior has an Early-English façade displaying more than 300 sculpted figures, described by Harvey as "the supreme triumph of the combined Plastic Arts in England". The East End retains much ancient Stained-Glass, which is rare in England.

Unlike many English Cathedrals of Monastic Foundation, Wells Cathedral has an exceptional number of surviving Secular Buildings associated with its Chapter of Secular Canons, including The Bishop's Palace and Vicars' Close, a Residential Street that has remained intact since the

15th-Century. The Cathedral is a Grade I-Listed Building.